Solar systems installed in dwellings or public and commercial buildings are known. These solar systems are generally composed of a plurality of solar units 1 shown in FIG. 1, wherein each unit comprises a solar panel 2 connected to a converter system 11. All the converter systems are connected to a distributor system, which is responsible for sending the electricity produced to the public electricity network or to the electricity network of the dwellings or public or commercial building. This distributor allows the electricity produced by the solar panels to be sold or used to reduce dependence on the public electricity network.
Each solar panel comprises a plurality of photovoltaic cells 3, each comprising a positive terminal and a negative terminal. These photovoltaic cells are connected in series, each solar panel thus comprising a first cell and a last cell. These photovoltaic cells are assembled in the form of groups 4 of the same number of photovoltaic cells. For example, a solar panel comprising twelve photovoltaic cells consists of three groups of four photovoltaic cells. In general, the photovoltaic cells are arrayed in rows and columns and each row of photovoltaic cells forms a group.
Each solar panel also comprises a plurality of protective diodes 5 connected in series, wherein each protective diode is connected in parallel to one of the groups 4. It is thus understood that the negative terminal of the first photovoltaic cell of the group is connected to the anode of the diode and the positive terminal of the last photovoltaic cell of the group is connected to the cathode of the diode. This arrangement allows the photovoltaic cells to be protected by preventing the current of one group of photovoltaic cells from passing to the photovoltaic cells of another group.
The positive terminal of the first photovoltaic cell and the negative terminal of the last photovoltaic cell are connected to the converter system 11. The latter comprises a regulator unit 6 comprising a plurality of regulator circuits 7, which are arranged in parallel and are controlled in modulation so that a single regulator circuit 7 is active at a given instant. The signals supplied by the regulator circuits are sent to a DC/AC converter 8 responsible for transforming a continuous voltage into an alternating current at output Sout.
A disadvantage of this system results from the use of protective diodes, also referred to as bypass diodes. In fact, these diodes are components that consume power and lead to a reduction in the efficiency of the solar system. Efficiency is a very important feature nowadays if it is intended that this energy source should eventually be able to replace current fossil fuels.
These diodes also have the disadvantage of being fragile and expensive, which demands caution. It is thus understood that these diodes must be welded by hand because the use of an automated process would risk significant breakage and therefore incur an equally significant cost.